Lotti begins baking

Every summer, I have my kids do "homework" (I know, it's the curse of having a former school teacher for a mom!!). In the past, they've used the unfinished portions of the workbooks they bring home at the end of the school year to do a little grammar and math each day (which Nate still did this summer). But with Lotti going into high school this year, we all realize how limited our time with her at home is growing. So one of the things I began to work with her on was learning to do some basic baking and cooking. This was her first batch of muffins. She chose the recipe, a chocolate muffin with a struesel on top. We did them as mini muffins, and they didn't quite turn out, although they look good in the picture. The tops were good, but the bottoms burnt. She was pretty excited, as you can tell.


Here, Lotti is making a rolled bread. This was her second baking attempt (the muffins were the first). This is a loaf of French bread with a basil pesto in the middle. That's the green stuff you see in the middle of the dough. She's spreading it around the dough, after which you roll up the dough like you would for cinnamon rolls and bake it like that. This turned out beautifully! You can see one of the rolled loaves on the cookie sheet in the left of the picture. She and I made these side by side, with each of us making 2 loaves a piece. We took them to a bridal shower for the guy who's been our youth intern at church. They were a BIG hit!

This semester, Lotti is taking a Culinary Arts class. She is learning even more than I had time to teach her this past summer. She's made Tres Leches (3 Milks in Spanish), a cake that has you pour a mixture of evaporated milk, condensed milk, and half-and-half (the 3 milks) over the baked cake and then let it sit for several hours. You then "ice" it with whipped cream and sprinkle cinnamon on it. She had to make that for homework for the class and then take a piece to the teacher along with comments from us. She did this one all on her own, and it turned out really well. Lotti is discovering that she enjoys being in the kitchen!